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October 20, 2005

Hurricane Wilma crashes into Mexico, tourists flee

by Sam Savage

By Noel Randewich

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Roaring waves pounded Mexican
beach resorts on Thursday and thousands of tourists were
evacuated to escape the wrath of Hurricane Wilma, which
gathered strength in the Caribbean on its way to Florida.

Cuba evacuated 220,000 people and residents of southern
Florida stocked up on drinking water and gas to prepare for
Wilma, which spun off the coasts of Mexico and Belize packing
winds of around 150 mph (240 kph).

Described by forecasters as extremely dangerous, Wilma
killed 10 people in mudslides in Haiti earlier in the week.

Expensive beachfront hotels all along Mexico's "Maya
Riviera" coast emptied of tourists who fled to shelters. The
normally calm, turquoise Caribbean heaved and frothed and rain
began to fall.

"We are trying to stay calm, but we are freaking out
inside," said Kerry Rieth, a tourist from Pennsylvania in the
cloud-covered resort of Cancun. Winds were strong and heavy
rains were expected later in the day.

Wilma became the strongest Atlantic storm on record in
terms of barometric pressure on Wednesday. It weakened to a
Category 4 hurricane, then picked up again as it headed for
Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where it was expected to hit on
Friday.

"Believe me, this is still a very, very powerful
hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. National
Hurricane Center in Miami.

The hurricane season has six weeks left and has already
spawned three of the most intense storms on record. Hurricane
experts say the Atlantic has entered a period of heightened
storm activity that could last another 20 years.

The storm was expected to miss Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
facilities battered by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August
and September, but Florida's orange groves were at risk.

DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE

"The center of Wilma will be very near the coastline of the
Yucatan by midday tomorrow. However, Wilma has a large
circulation, and hurricane conditions will be felt well before
the arrival of the center," the hurricane center said.

Residents who live in flimsy shacks that cannot withstand
high winds were being moved to shelters.

Some 150 poor construction workers helping to build hotels
and supermarkets hunkered down for the night at a school in the
resort of Playa del Carmen.

"They haven't paid me yet. I have no money, no food," said
Fernando Gomez, a Tojolabal Indian worker from the state of
Chiapas, whose feet were sticking out of old boots.

The island of Cozumel, one of the world's best spots for
scuba diving, faced a possible direct hit and tourists were
ordered to leave. In Cancun, they took shelter at gymnasiums
and schools as the storm was expected to send a 10-foot
(3-meter) surge of water over the coast.

Mexican authorities said about 42,000 tourists could be
evacuated from coastal areas, and airlines added flights from
Cancun and nearby points on the Riviera Maya as well as Cozumel
and Isla Mujeres.

Lowanda Cole, a massage therapist from Houston, said she
was getting used to hurricanes after one of the most
destructive seasons on record.

"We evacuated from Rita, we helped folks out with Katrina
and now here we are and we have to run again. We can't get away
from these things," she said in a crowded Cancun hotel lobby as
she waited with her sons to be evacuated.

Some hardy local residents who have lived through many
hurricanes were unfazed.

"I've been here 25 years. I'm not at all worried. My house
is safe," said Jorge Moreno, a carpenter who lives in a
low-cost housing project in Cancun.

At 5 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), Wilma was 135 miles southeast of
Cozumel and was slowly moving northwest.

Forecasters said it would strike densely populated southern
Florida late on Sunday.

At a briefing in Tallahassee, Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush told
residents to take advantage of the extra time the slow-moving
storm has given them to prepare.

"You need to have non-perishable food for 72 hours. Make
sure you have fresh water, make sure you have batteries,
battery-powered radios and lighting so that you can survive
what will happen after a storm."

Authorities in the Keys, connected to mainland Florida by a
single road, ordered tourists out on Wednesday and are
considering telling the islands' 80,000 residents to evacuate.